The Disney Files
by Alitote
Summary: Detectives Eric Barnes and Aladdin Weigner are the newest faces on the streets of the city, and it's up to Detective Phoebus Chateaupers to keep them from doing something stupid when facing off against Disney's rather formidable underworld. (ratings may change pending future chapters)
1. Foreword(Explanation)

**Once again, I'm manipulating Disney. Not sorry in the slightest btw...**

**If you've read Darker Disney then you're already familiar with my work and can know to expect fluctuating post dates, twists, turns, and drama. If you haven't read Darker Disney, have no fear. You don't need to have done so to enjoy this completely separate piece of fan fiction. (Although you should still read it... it was a monster to create... -_-''' ;p)**

**So what's left? Umm... flames are not acceptable and will be deleted... yadda yadda yah... please post constructive critisicm if you have a problem and please review in general as they make me happy and more likely to write... oh! Shedea will NOT be making an appearance so, sorry (not sorry) and I hope you still would like to read. :D**

**If the summary didn't explain enough, this is an AU story, meaning that instead of the Disney Vault or somesuch, we find our hero's in the city of Disney. It's a nice little town with a top-notch Police force, headed by the iron fisted Chief Claude Frollo and run by efficient (most of the time) detectives and police officers. The city prides itself on it's clean streets, rich culture, and exciting places, such as the ever seedy Pleasure Island club run by the infamous Mr. Coachman (or just simply Coachman if you know him personally), it's charming and appealing toys sold in Gepetto's Toy shop, and lets not forget the Pixar Park, where it's not uncommon to see a few exotic birds running among dogs while you and your family enjoy a day out in the park.**

**Another note I nearly forgot, the animals and various _creatures_ of Disney will or will not be humanized, meaning that if it fits the story you will see Sully or Flounder walking around as a human, or you may see a pet fox named Todd if it would work better that way.**

**Well... I think that's all for now... Please enjoy!**


	2. Lost Things

"Barnes!"

The booming voice of Chief Frollo nearly caused Eric Barnes to fall from his chair, upsetting the small pyramid of paper cups he'd collected from periodic water cooler visits that day.

"Sir!" Eric coughed, having choked on his own spit in surprise as the Chief of Police stormed to his desk. Beside him Phoebus Chateaupers smirked into his coffee cup and continued clicking away at his computer.

"You have a case." Frollo said, the fire in his face and tone disappearing.

"I-I know," Eric stuttered, looking down at his coat which he'd been seconds from donning, "I was just about to head over there."

"I know..." Frollo said impatiently, sounding as if he were dealing with a two-year old instead of a police detective, "And I wished to inform you Detective, that the man you're about to meet is a rather... _important_ individual in the city's social hierarchy-_so no slacking on the job!_"

Eric paused to frown, beside him Detective Aladdin Weigner coughed discreetly as he leaned back to hit Eric's arm and snap him out of his thoughts.

"I wouldn't have slacked anyway sir," Eric said quickly, "A girl's missing and-"

"Yes, I know I know!" Frollo snapped, inching forward rather dangerously, "Just wanted to make sure we're _clear_. Now, on you go." He pointed a thin, knobby finger towards the door of the police station and Eric scrambled to grab his coat and badge before tearing out the door.

* * *

Police officers were already there, milling about the living room or standing outside talking when Eric had arrived, and when they saw him get out of his car they grinned like Cheshire cats, watching quietly as he entered the large beach house overlooking the pier.

You could smell the salty brine a few measly miles from the back door of the white painted house. The whole scene, minus the cops and the deathly quiet that usually falls on a house after a tragedy, reminded Eric of home, visiting his own family's beach house when he was younger and spending days just lying across white sand under a warm sun or glittery stars.

With a small shake of his head, Eric forced himself back to reality, knocking on the door and jumping back when it swung open. An orange-tanned man in a butler's uniform opened the door, looking panicked and hopeful before his face fell at the sight of the detective. Eric flashed his badge and was waved inside, lead through halls of finely polished wood and filled with sea-themed art and thousands upon thousands of family photos.

"Thank goodness!" The butler was saying, his voice high and squeaky, "The master looked ready to panic when you didn't arrive with the original officers."

"Detective Basil was assigned to come in," Eric hastily tried to explain, "But a personal matter came up-"

"All that matters is you're here now!" the Butler exclaimed, opening the door to an office, where sat a distraught looking father and a young woman. Eric easily recognized Triton Angelfish from all the photographs that got splashed across the papers whenever there was some sort of party held in town, although the photographs usually depicted a happy, self-respecting man surrounded by one or two of his seven daughters. Even in his photographs he gushed that sense of fatherhood, and yet there was also a vibe of respect and power that had Eric wondering what this man would do should he ever be challenged.

He guessed the girl beside Mr. Angelfish was his oldest daughter. She was busy worrying an orange silk handkerchief in her hands as it seemed like she forced herself not to cry.

"Master Angelfish?" the Butler said as Mr. Angelfish and Attina looked up at the intrusion, "This is Detective..."

"Eric's fine." Eric said quickly, taking the hand outstretched to him by the old father and giving a firm handshake.

"This is my oldest, Attina." Mr. Angelfish was quick to say and Eric shook her hand as well, "She's a bit of my assistant these days."

Eric smiled, turning to Triton Angelfish and saying as gently as possible, "You reported your daughter missing?"

"My little Ariel," Mr. Angelfish sighed grimly, "She didn't come home last night, and when we didn't find her in bed this morning we knew something must have happened."

"You say you noticed the disappearance last night?" Eric frowned, pulling a small notebook from his jacket and clicking open a pen.

"Yes." Mr. Angelfish frowned, looking at his daughter as if for help.

"Ariel sneaks in if she misses curfew," The girl was quick to say, voice cracking here and there from crying, "It happens a lot, so we figured it would happen last night."

"And she doesn't share a room with anyone?"

"No," Attina almost a gave a bitter sort of laugh, "Perk of being the youngest I guess, she lucked out with rooms... Even when we were all moving out she stayed, saying no apartment could compare to her room."

"I offered to let her stay here while she attended college," Triton was quick to add, "The rest of my daughters are either nearly graduated or are already working out in the world."

Eric nodded, "So last night, what happened? Give me the full story."

"Well..." Triton Angelfish frowned, "She wanted to go out, with her friends you know? And when I told her to be back by curfew I just _knew_ she would miss it-she gets this gleam in her eye it seems and you can tell she's planning on disobeying." The old man sighed, "When she didn't show _as usual_, I thought not much of it, just that she was going to be grounded for missing yet again-and not even calling."

"Is it normal for her not to call?"

"Yes..." Attina and her father sighed together.

"Was there an argument over the curfews last night? Or anything that seemed out of place or wrong in her demeanor?" Eric asked, scribbling in his notebook.

"No," Triton looked to Attina, "Nothing much, she was just excited to go out."

"All she could talk about was seeing that movie with Flounder last night-the one with the crazy scientist and computers?" Attina added, looking to Eric, "She wouldn't shut up about it at dinner. We're all in town for the opening of my father's new factory and _all_ of us were getting pretty tired of her going on and on-"

"Thank you Attina." Triton said quietly and her daughter was silent.

"Mr. Angelfish," Eric began, leaning forward, "Is it possible Ariel was involved in anything... _harmful_? Drugs, shady boyfriends, anything at all to have you concerned?"

"Urchin-"

"_No_." Mr. Angelfish said over his daughter, "My Ariel is a good girl, she knows not to be stupid."

"Dad that kid is trouble!" Attina said, "I caught him handling one of the figurines once! It looked like he was about to swipe it-"

"Thank you Attina!" Mr. Angelfish snapped, "If you don't mind, I think the Detective and I should continue talking _alone_."

Attina's mouth snapped shut as a pained look washed over her face. Saying nothing, she smoothed the front of her skirt and stormed angrily out, slamming the office door and she could be heard stomping down the hall.

"So sorry," Mr. Angelfish sighed, "She's not usually this catty..."

"Disappearances of loved ones often make us do odd things." Eric nodded, glancing down at his notebook, "Who did Ariel go out with, if you don't mind my asking?"

Mr. Angelfish frowned in thought, eyebrows knitting tightly together, "Jason-Flounder to his friends, and I believe I heard Gabriella mentioned a number of times..."

"And this _Urchin_ kid?"

Mr. Angelfish waved his hand, "No, he's harmless, and anyway he's been away for days. He couldn't have been with Ariel last night."

"You sound extremely sure." Eric noted.

Triton Angelfish fixed Eric with a determined sort of look, saying very evenly, "I know my daughter detective."

Sensing he was nearing dangerous territory, Eric nodded his head and slipped his notebook back into his jacket, "Yes sir." Jumping to his feet he said, "If I could talk to the rest of your girls-and if I could get in touch with the friends Ariel went out with last night that would be great."

"Of course." Mr. Angelfish nodded, reaching for a small black book, "The girls are in the living room, and I'll call Jason and Gabriella now-be warned, Gabriella's mute, you may not get much from her."

"Or maybe a whole lot." Eric muttered as he hurried towards the living room.

* * *

"Bulls eye!" Aladdin Weigner laughed as the dart hit it's mark on the target, "I win again old man!"

"I'm only four years older than you!" Phoebus Chateaupers frowned, wrenching the darts from their board and joining the younger Detective in the bar, "I suppose we should have heard something from Barnes by now..."

"Poor Eric, he's no good at being a detective is he?" Aladdin grinned, throwing a dart and hitting close to the center, "Yes!"

"Better than you!" Phoebus cried, "He didn't pass his exams by snatching the teacher's keys and threatening to throw them out the window."

"The guy was a jerk!" Aladdin defended himself playfully, "And anyway, it's the resourceful kind that make it isn't it?"

"If that's your idea of resourceful I worry for the future of the force." Phoebus sighed. Phoebus Chateaupers had been a member of the Disney Police Force since his days as a beat cop. He'd literally seen the city grow from a simple loving community to a more mature, more _... interesting _sort of place. He no longer felt safe leaving his door unlocked at night, and knew that some days being a cop was not a blessing when walking home from the corner store after dark and off duty.

Seeing all that excitement and testosterone fueled ego being a newly made cop in the young Aladdin's eyes reminded Phoebus of his early days of patrolling the streets and taking scumbags down. It took a simple brush to his left shoulder to remind the older man of the effect this kind of job has on you, that shoulder would never be the same again...

And it was all thanks to a certain dark haired flower he spied scurrying the streets on the seedier sides of Disney...

"Hey old man, you gonna play another round or am I getting that free drink?" Aladdin grinned, waving the last dart in front of Phoebus' nose. Phoebus rolled his eyes and took a swig of his pint.

"Just shoot already, we have to be back soon anyway."

"Nothing ever happens here, what are we gonna miss?"

* * *

It had only been an hour, and already Eric was wondering if he'd ever be able to solve this case. He sat in the dining room of the Angelfish house, staring as the ebony haired Alana twirled a lock of her hair with one finger and studied the violet polish of her other hand's nails, smirking as she said rather coldly, "She's probably just still out messing around. This isn't the first time she's scared Dad."

"You're sister is missing."

"No," Alana snapped rather quickly, "She's out having her little _adventures_." Before she slipped a pair of shades on over her eyes and pranced from the room. Eric stared after her, wondering how a thirty year old could resemble a twelve year old so vividly...

"Don't mind her," Attina said, entering from the kitchen and setting a cup of coffee down in front of the detective, "She just doesn't want to accept what's happened..."

"I can see that." Eric nodded.

"None of us do..." Attina muttered into her own mug, sipping greedily.

"I know your dad doesn't think so, but tell me about this Urchin kid, it could help with my search."

"What search," Attina snapped, "All you've done is sit there and talk to my sisters!"

"Yes, and I learned a few things..."

"Like?"

Eric sighed, holding his notebook up in front of his face as he read, "Adella believes Ariel has run off with a boy-either this Flounder kid or the Urchin kid. Aquata thinks the Coachman nabbed her for his strip club. Arista was quick to second this theory and then they both were opposed by Andrina who thinks that Ariel's just gotten lost somewhere and is waiting for a knight in shining-that was sarcasm wasn't it?"

Attina nodded dryly, "Andrina has a thing for it. We think she gets it from our mother."

"Where is your mother, if I may ask?"

Attina let out another bark of laughter, "You must be new here _Detective _if you don't know the local gossip!"

Blushing furiously, Eric scrambled to think of a reply, "I-I'm sorry, you're right, I've only been in town a few months! I haven't really had time to integrate into the social circuit yet!"

"Well then here's your first piece of local history: my mother's dead."

"Oh..." Eric swallowed, "I'm so sorry..."

Attina gave a cold shrug, "It happened years ago... we're over it."

"How old were you?"

"Let's see... I'd just graduated high school I believe... so nineteen? Drunk driver hit her when she was out shopping for Ariel's birthday party."

"Do people blame Ariel then?" Eric wondered, "For the accident?"

"No!" Attina said quickly, "No, no we would _never_... she didn't even know Mom had gone out! It was supposed to be a surprise for her!"

"Does Ariel blame herself?"

"No!" Attina snapped, turning and disappearing inside the kitchen. Eric sighed, glancing back at the swinging kitchen doors before a cough from the other door turned his head to see Mr. Angelfish.

"I couldn't get a hold of either Jason or Gabriella, their parents say that the two haven't come home yet either."

"Right." Eric said, getting up and extracting his phone from his pocket, "Thank you Mr. Angelfish, I'll be sure to come back should anything develop."

Mr. Angelfish nodded solemnly, walking with Eric to the door and letting him out as Eric dialed Aladdin's number.

"This is Aladdin." The detective said as he answered the call.

"Hey, it's me." Eric muttered, "I think you're gonna have to help me with this one, it looks like the search needs to be expanded to incorporate a Gabriella Damon and Jason Guppy. Also be on the look out for a kid who goes by the name Urchin, he sounds promising."

"Right, want Phoebus and I to check around downtown? We're down here right now."

"Doing what?" Eric asked as he climbed into his car.

"Oh you know, this and that..." Aladdin answered cheekily.

"Right well, no fair climbing the career ladder the dirty way-"

"Hey!"

"-But back to the point, it looks like Ariel went out with those two last night and none of them returned home."

"Where'd they go?"

"To see a movie-I'm driving to the theater now to see if anyone remembers them and then I'll join you two poking around downtown Disney."

"Right," Aladdin said before it sounded like he turned to Phoebus, "Turn right up here, we can start _there_-Eric you owe us one! Phoebus is making us stop at Pleasure Island!" In the background Eric heard Phoebus yelling at Aladdin to shut his lying mouth and he let a grin grace his lips.

"Sure, I'll pay you back with a beer when this is over. Now go! We got a girl to find!"

"Correction, two girls and a little Guppy!"

* * *

If you were the kind who like the night life, and you happened to be traveling through the city of Disney, you might find yourselves wandering the streets after dark. Whether it was to find a good shop, pub, or something to eat, as you walked (or drove) your eyes would inevitably fall on the brightly lit neon sign reading Pleasure Island and depicting a sandy beach with palm trees that would attempt to sway but would merely jerk spastically.

The one thing to remember about this club is: Never enter it! Unless you are a depraved being looking only for the next adventure or the next dirty surprise, then never enter this establishment lest you become as corrupted as it's owner, Mr. Coachman (known merely as Coachman to his colleagues). The club prides itself on not being afraid to preform any service, being a place where you could find absolutely _any_ kind of character, and (unfortunately) having the best performances of the entertainment kind in the city.

Many a night, singers and dancers would distract a large number of the crowd with their acts as pick pockets, wanted men and women, and a number of shady creeps worked their way through the unsuspecting patrons who would shortly find their wallets missing and purses pilfered.

Phoebus scanned the old and rotting stage for a certain dark haired flower before they were approached by a fiery haired man with a pointed nose and a rather flashy yet sorry looking deep sea blue suit. He smiled a yellow teethed smile at the detectives and leaned a patched elbow on their table, his beady eyes boring holes into the both of them.

"What brings Disney's _finest_ here then?" He asked in a rough, thick voice. A ways behind him, a younger man, probably barely a teenager, hung back watching silently. He, unlike the man before them now, was dressed solely in rags. Patched jacket and shirt, his pants hung on a skeleton-like waist and no shoes adorned his grime ridden feet.

"Nothing but a chance to speak with Mr. Coachman." Phoebus said cordially, having dealt with these two con men enough times to feel comfortable enough talking to them as if they were children, "Now go on, and take your parasite with you."

A rotten look crossed the dirty man's face and he turned to Aladdin with a sneer, "You gonna let him talk to us like that Al? After all we been through?"

A panicked look crossed Aladdin's face before he sorted his features back into place and he said rather coldly, "Go get Coachman Honest John."

With a huff Honest John turned and stormed off, his friend Gideon quick to follow. Phoebus watched them go before turning back to see Aladdin sliding out of the booth as quickly as possible.

"Hold it!" Phoebus snapped, and Aladdin froze, "Park it." Wordlessly, Aladdin slipped back into the booth. He sighed, turning to watch the blonde on stage dance and sing I Need a Hero rather badly into the mike as she attempted to sexily flaunt her assets across the stage.

"What was all that about?" Phoebus asked, "He called you Al, like he knew you."

Aladdin fixed Phoebus with an empty look, "You're not the only one who spent time around here as a kid."

"And here I thought you were the squeaky clean kind." Phoebus snorted.

"Nah that's Eric."

"Don't worry, we'll find his weakness yet!" Phoebus proclaimed before a black leather-clad glove clapped his shoulder.

"A business I've profited quite well from." Coachman said, waving a hand around the room before sitting beside Aladdin and throwing an arm around his shoulders, "What can I help you boys with today then?"

"Maybe you've heard around," Phoebus said, "About the missing girl?"

"Ariel Angelfish? Who hasn't!" Coachman laughed, "I tell you boys, wait around long enough and there'll be a nice price on that little red head for finding her!"

"Well we don't exactly have that kind of time." Phoebus said as Aladdin shifted awkwardly under the Coachman's arm, "Have you heard or seen anything useful?"

"Oh, maybe." Coachman sighed, "Depends..."

"On?"

Coachman turned, his red and swollen face nearly losing the lecherous smile that graced his face, "Don't you remember Aladdin?"

The detective groaned, twisting his arm into his pocket and extracting his wallet. Pulling out two tens and a twenty, he slapped it down on the table top and stared coldly at the club owner.

"I don't play your games anymore, but you can have that if you talk."

"Fine," Coachman sighed, leaning back comfortably in the dirty leather booth, "Let's see... I believe I saw them pass by the front windows around eleven. They were laughing I believe and the redhead, cute thing isn't she? Well, she made a grab for the blue haired kid and I got to witness such a passionate-"

"The truth please." Phoebus snapped.

"Oh, why not indulge in fantasy Detective?" Coachman pouted, "It's more fun."

"Now, or we take you in for obstructing justice."

"Fine... let's see... they did pass by my shop window and that's all I saw of them. Happy?"

"No." Phoebus said, "You always know more than something like that, who's got them?"

"All three of them?" Coachman grinned, "Well that's just great, who knows what the teenage resource pool will do without lookers like that..."

"Let's go Phoebus, he obviously doesn't know anything." Aladdin said, shrugging the offending arm off and scooting to Phoebus' side of the booth.

"Oh wait! I believe I heard something about _Ursula_ this morning." Coachman said quickly, "Nothing much, mind you, but enough to have her two lackeys looking rather happy. Something about acquiring a new couple of toys for their boss. At first of course, I thought it was just some new drug-you know Ursula, always got to be playing with her chemistry set-but now that you're here I'm beginning to think she's found herself a number of test subjects."

Reaching into his own wallet, Phoebus extracted a one and slapped it atop Aladdin's money, "That's better. Let's go Weigner." Together, with one glance back from a still nervous looking Aladdin, they left the club. Coachman watched them go, smiling all the way.

* * *

"Yeah I saw her." A teenage kid nodded through the teller window, "She and her friends bought four tickets to see _Transcendence_-great movie by the way."

"Thanks," Eric said before what the kid had said registered, "Wait four? I thought she only had two other kids with her."

The kid frowned, shaking his head so fast his shaggy black hair fell in front of his eyes and it prompted a quick personal cleanup as he cleared his eyes and then adjusted the name tag over his black shirt that read _Max_.

"There were three of them together."

"Were two of them a girl and a guy?"

"What else would they be?" Max snorted, leaning forward on the counter, "Yeah, this girl who waved her hands around a lot and a blonde guy with streaks of blue in his hair. There was another blonde with them, he didn't look like he fit with their kind you know? Neither did the girl really but he really stuck out."

"How?"

"Ratty hoodie, tangled hair, he looked like he'd been run over basically. And he kept looking around, like someone might attack him."

"Do you think I could talk to the manager?" Eric said slowly.

"Sure, I'll see if I can find him." Max said before disappearing to do just that. Eric sighed and ran a finger over the spiral binding of his notebook, looking around as he waited. Kids milled about, some pulling friends and others walking with parents into the theater. A small niche by the entrance was crammed with kids, and a few unwashed adults, all either smoking or waiting for a smoke as the cigarettes were passed between them. They eyed a few of the theater's patrons quietly, eyes analyzing them like they were a roast duck just waiting for someone to eat them...

This didn't make sense. If Ariel really was a smart girl, then why would she choose this theater-the raunchiest one Eric had ever seen-when there were much nicer, _cleaner,_ theaters to go to? True they cost a little more, but that didn't seem to be the problem for the daughter of a successful business man. So why would she come here? When the place was crawling with shady characters.

"Detective?" Eric turned to see a large man with a swollen face and a gravely voice approach in a dark suit. His name tag read _Manager-Pete_ and was stained with something red that Eric hoped was ketchup.

"Hello," Eric smiled, shaking the manager's white gloved hand, "I'm investigating the disappearance of four teenagers, they were last seen here."

"Well that's just terrible." Pete the manager said, looking genuinely surprised.

"I was wondering if I could get a look at your security footage, maybe there's a clue on the tapes."

"I wish you could," Pete said sympathetically but extremely quietly, "But those cameras up there? Just for show. I don't actually have the money for security cameras yet."

Eric frowned, pulling the picture of Ariel out again, "Then, do you recognize her? She's one of the kids that went missing."

"Oh yes, I remember her." Pete laughed, "Prettiest thing to walk in here last night, all shiny and bubbly. I'm sure Max here would have made a move had she not had her arm slung through that hood rat's at the time."

"Hood rat?"

"A local kid," Pete said, "And by local I mean _local_. He's a street kid you know? He hangs around that poor girl and she takes him to movies and lunch all the time. I only assumed they were dating considering how close she was to him, and how she didn't treat her other friends that intimately-that kid with the streaks of blue in his hair kept shooting them jealous looks the entire time they were in the concession stand!"

"You saw the whole thing?"

"Well I was helping at the concessions since one of my employees called in sick yesterday. I had a clear view of them through the windows."

"Do you know where I could find this kid she was latched so tightly on to?" Eric asked, "Where he lives or hangs around?"

"Do you not understand the meaning of _street kid_?" Pete asked, "He's homeless. Robs a few of my paying customers blind when he comes in here by himself, never when the lady's with him-to _noble_ for that I guess." He chuckled before turning to Max, "Go see if you can find Junior, he might have seen something when he was ushering."

"Do you know anything else about him? Is he the one who goes by Urchin?" Eric asked, feeling almost desperate.

"Yeah, that's him." Pete said, "Don't know his real name, that's the one he uses whenever he gets picked up by you guys."

That last sentence was the spark of hope Eric needed. He grinned excitedly, scribbling in his notebook as a miniature version of Pete approached, albeit slightly slimmer and with a much softer look to his face.

"Junior," Pete addressed the kid, "Do you recognize this girl?" He held up Eric's photo and the kid's face lit up.

"Yeah, she stormed out of the movie before it was over!" He said quickly, "She seemed really mad for some reason!"

"What were you doing when you saw this?" Eric asked.

"Cleaning out another theater, it was just a few doors down from the one she came out of." Junior said, "She was followed by that street kid that hangs around here a lot dad," He said, turning to Pete, "And when he caught up with her she started yelling at him."

"Yelling what?" Eric asked.

"Mostly just saying how much of a pig she thought he was. Saying it wasn't cool of him to try pulling fast ones on her in the theater." Junior said, a grin slipping onto his face, "Personally, I'm not surprised, guys do it here all the time."

"Thank you Junior..." Pete said quickly, turning back to the detective, "Is there anything else we could help you with?"

"Yeah, if you see him or her at any point-or if you remember anything-make sure to call." Eric said, snapping his notebook shut and turning to go, "Thanks a lot you guys."

* * *

"Urchin." Eric said, dropping a file onto his desk.

"Bless you?" Aladdin frowned looking up from his own case files.

"No the fourth kid, his name's Urchin-well really it's Danny Cook but goes by the name Urchin." Eric said, sitting down and opening the file, "He has a record-oh poor kid." He scanned over the files content, seeing a number of photos paper clipped to different pages.

"What?" Aladdin asked, leaning over to read over Eric's shoulder, "Wow, drove a pick-up into a charity auction. This kid's nuts!"

"Says here he's been picked up for a number of things since he was twelve. He spent a whole year in juvie then got out on good behavior," He was interrupted by a bark of laughter from Aladdin, "Then he turned Eighteen and decided to celebrate by robbing a jewelry store."

"What was good little rich girl doing with him then?" Aladdin asked and Eric shrugged.

"I don't know... maybe she had a wild side?"

"Every girl has a wild side Eric," Aladdin grinned, "Just most are more careful in hiding it from Daddy and anyone else who might not approve. Her dad knew about this kid right? Sounds like it was normal to see him hanging around sometimes."

"If Ariel thought he was a danger, then she wouldn't let him near the house right?" Eric wondered, "So that means she trusted him... and wasn't ashamed of him... so it stands to reason she didn't believe him capable of hurting her right?"

"Yeah, but look at his record. Petty theft, auto theft, scams here and there, and-oh look a few battery charges! This Urchin kid means business when you look at it."

"Urchin?" Phoebus frowned as he approached his desk from the coffee machine.

"You know him?" Eric asked.

"I've brought him in a few times yeah, why? Is he connected to the case?"

"He was with Ariel, Jason, and Gabriella when they disappeared. And he got into a rather heated argument with Ariel before they left the theater."

"Coachman didn't mention a fourth victim did he?" Aladdin asked, "He said he just saw those three."

"Right, meaning Urchin probably bailed after fighting with Ariel." Phoebus frowned, "Or he was lying and Urchin was nabbed with them."

"It's not possible for him to do it himself?" Aladdin asked.

"Three to one? Even when two are girls? Yeah one would have gotten away." Eric said before turning to Phoebus, "If he left them before they got kidnapped, he may still be on the street. Do you know where we could find him?"

"Realistically?" Phoebus frowned, "He has a number of spots but we'd probably find him with his hand in some old lady's purse just as easily."

Eric stood, donning his coat and securing his badge to his front pocket, "All the same, the sooner we find him, the sooner we could be to finding Ariel."

* * *

Ariel coughed as the dust that had been collecting in her throat was inhaled all at once as she jerked to consciousness. She hacked violently, body jerking painfully against the wood panels of the dusty room.

As her air ways cleared and the water in her eyes was rubbed away, she looked through the semi-darkness to see she wasn't alone. On the other side of the room sat Flounder, still unconscious with a deep gash covered in dried blood that ran all the way down his face. Beside him, Gabriella watched Ariel with wide, hopeful looking eyes.

"Gabriella!" Ariel croaked, using her bound hands and feet to inch-worm her way across the room. Her friends were sitting on a moldy old mattress, and every time Gabriella moved or twitched a puff of dust flew up from the rotting material. Ariel crawled up Gabriella's coco-skinned legs, scraped and cut from being dragged around so much last night, and reached out to pull at the knots around her wrists. Gabriella gave a painful wince but silently encouraged Ariel to keep going.

"It's no good..." Ariel groaned after a full three minute of tugging, "It's to tight..." Then her eyes fell on her best friend and she grew alarmed at how pale he looked.

"Is he okay?" She couldn't help but ask and Gabriella gave a simple shrug. Ariel scooted over to sit in front of Flounder and reached out to touched the dried blood on his cheek. Her fingers traveled up towards the gash and he gave a pained cry, jerking away from her.

"Flounder?!"

"Ouch!" Flounder whined, wrenching open his eyes and looking at his friends, "W-where are we?"

"I don't know." Ariel croaked, "But you're head! When did that happen?"

"You were still asleep." Flounder muttered, "We tried to stop them... but we just got nabbed too."

Ariel smiled, Flounder was a fraidy-cat (he cried when they went to the local high school's haunted house last year), so for him to have tried and fend off her attackers spoke volumes to Ariel.

"Where's Urchin?" Flounder asked and the smile faded from Ariel's lips as she reached up to fix the hair that had fallen in front of her face.

"He had to leave..." Ariel said, "So I walked out with him."

"Yeah, and when you didn't come back we decided to come after you." Flounder growled, "I knew this would happen Ariel! We all knew he was dangerous and I knew this would-"

"So why didn't you stop me?" Ariel snapped angrily, "And anyway, this wasn't Urchin! He left before those two creeps approached me!"

"Oh..." Flounder's face lost it's righteous fury for a moment and Gabriella nudged him with her bound hands. She blinked twice at him, her face full of wide-eyed innocence as she seemed to silently ask him something.

"What are we gonna do?" He finally sighed.

At a loss for words, Ariel sat back and sighed; having no idea.

* * *

"I was wondering when you would show up!" Miss Medusa-Excuse me-_Madame_ Medusa (as she preferred to be called when she shouted at Eric ten minutes ago), "He's been wandering around the alley way and throwing those rocks at the windows all morning!"

"Thanks for not running him off," Phoebus said, following the apartment landlady closely. They were moving down the narrow, damp and dark halls of the Devil's Eye apartments and Eric had to choke back a number of gags as the smells coming from the building threatened to start making him tear up.

Outside they found a tall, starved, unwashed young man pacing up and down the length of the alleyway, turning just before he'd reach the street outside and walking till he could reach out and hit the brick wall at the back. His knuckles were split open, his entire fist covered in blood. You could hear him muttering, shrinking back into his ratty green hoodie as he stumbled over garbage with his dirty and cut bare feet.

"He always does that when he's upset." Medusa explained, "Figured it had to be bad enough for him to break his hand! I decided I'd just wait for you guys to show up."

"Madame," Eric frowned, watching Urchin pace, "If you knew he was guilty of doing something, why didn't you report him? Or talk to him?"

"With how busy I am?" Madame Medusa laughed, "Please! And besides, I'm not dumb enough to approach him! Don't know who is-well, besides Detective Phoebus here. But then again, he can at least take him-don't let his size fool you, that kid's insane!"

"Thank you Madame," Phoebus said, "We'll take it from here."

Madame Medusa rolled her eyes and disappeared through the door as Phoebus slowly removed his handcuffs from his belt, handing it and his gun to Aladdin.

"Don't let him see those, or yours for that matter, and be ready-we may need the handcuffs."

Aladdin and Eric shared a nervous look, then swallowed as Phoebus slowly and deliberately took a loud step forward. Urchin paused to look up but didn't seem to notice Phoebus as he continued pacing. As Phoebus walked in his path, he reached out and caught Urchin by the arm. Urchin gave a noise of protest and attempted to get away but Phoebus grabbed his other arm and turned him around, Urchin's back to the other detectives as Phoebus spoke slowly.

"Urchin, Urchin, hey it's me!" He said, smiling gently, "Urchin it's me Phoebus remember?"

"Yes..." Urchin muttered, looking more and more guilty through his curtain of shaggy hair.

"Hey, we just wanna talk okay?" Phoebus said, "Can we do that?"

Urchin seemed to consider it for a moment, reaching up to tap his chapped lips with a dirty (and bloody) fingernail, "No... no we can't do that... can't do that... no..."

"Is this kid crazy?" Aladdin whispered to Eric who shrugged.

"I'll by you lunch, that's seems fair right?" Phoebus proposed.

"No... no I don't want lunch..."

"Really?" Phoebus grinned, "You love lunch right?"

"Yeah..."

"Then let me treat yeah, it'll be fine okay?"

"Will I go to jail?" Urchin's eyes filled with tears and he started wiping at them furiously.

"No," Phoebus said quickly, tone light, "Why? Did something happen?"

Urchin nodded his head miserably, whimpering as Phoebus led him out of the alleyway. When they were a safe distance away, Phoebus silently motioned for Eric and Aladdin to follow.

"Let's go get a pizza okay? You can tell me all about it then." He said kindly to Urchin, who burst into tears.

* * *

"Al... most... got it!" Ariel declared as Gabriella's ropes came loose and she clapped in appreciation. Ariel blew on the end of the rust nail Flounder had found like it was a smoking gun and turned to Flounder, "Okay you next."

However, before she could free him, there was a loud banging sound as the door to the dilapidated room was thrown open. Two slender men entered, dressed in all black and grinning equal gray, unnerving smiles. They sniggered as Gabriella hurried to cover up the fact her arms were free by slipping her wrists between her legs. Flounder coward back as their eyes, one sickly yellow each, roamed over him and fell on Ariel, who glowered darkly at them.

"It seems the princess is awake." One said in a high, rasping voice.

"Indeed." His copy, they were exactly alike in every way possible, replied. He crossed the room and took Ariel's chin between his hands giving her a rough tug as he looked at her, "Pretty thing..."

"Who are you?" Ariel snarled, wrenching her head free from his grip.

"Oh, how rude of us," one of them said condescendingly, "We forgot to introduce ourselves didn't we Flotsam?"

"We did..." Flotsam replied, smiling down lecherously at Ariel, "Do forgive us dearie."

"Who are you?" Ariel replied coldly.

"Flotsam." Flotsam said.

"And Jetsam." Jetsam said.

"Ariel..." Flounder whispered but Ariel waved him off.

"We work for someone who's taken an interest in you." Flotsam smiled.

"Ariel..." Flounder tried again, but he was again ignored.

"A very great interest... she can't wait to meet you tonight." Jetsam continued.

"Ariel!" Flounder hissed.

"What?"

"Be careful," He jerked his head and for one horrible second Ariel finally noticed the gun in Flotsam's hand, and the knife in his twin's.

"Flounder has the right idea sweetie." Jetsam smiled, running the blade lightly against Gabriella's cheek, "I guess this one isn't of much use, she wont scream if we use her." He said to his twin.

Flotsam laughed, "Well there's blue hair over there, and she said we only had to keep her _face_ intact."

"Oh that's right." Jetsam laughed and Flotsam pointed his gun in Ariel's direction.

"Ariel!" Flounder screamed as it went off, pulling her towards him as the bullet struck the wall behind where the terrified redhead had been sitting. Their twin captors laughed and turned to go.

"I hope you got the message," Jetsam giggled, slamming the door closed. The three of them sat there, frozen, listening to their captors footsteps disappear. Then slowly, timidly, Ariel pulled out of Flounder's arms and swallowed, moving to sit in front of Gabriella again.

"Don't move." She instructed and began to saw at the ropes around her friend's feet.

"Ariel what are you doing?" Flounder cried.

"One of us has to get out and Gabriella's the fastest runner here." Ariel snapped angrily, tears pricking the far corners of her eyes.

"But they'll shoot her! They nearly shot you-"

"I know!" Ariel cried and the first rope around Gabriella's feet snapped. Gabriella was watching Ariel, a mixture of sympathy and concern on her face.

"Don't look at me like that..." Ariel muttered to her, the next rope snapping and another fraying.

* * *

The plate of food was set down in front of a still weepy Urchin and he nearly burst into tears again right there before Phoebus forced his cup of water into his hands and ordered him to drink.

"Now," Phoebus said as he bit into a slice of pepperoni, "Why don't you tell my friends and I about last night?"

"Why do you wanna know about that?" Urchin sniffled. He looked about twenty four to Eric, but he acted like he was younger, maybe a teenager or a kid...

"We're looking for your friend," He said gently, "Ariel?"

It seemed to be the magic word, as Urchin's pale face went white and his lip quivered violently. He rocked back and forth in the chair and he whimpered, "You won't find her..."

"Why's that?" Aladdin asked.

"No one will find her..."

"Urchin?" Phoebus said, "We will if you help us."

"I didn't mean to!" Urchin whimpered looking at Phoebus desperately, "I swear I didn't mean to!"

"Didn't mean to what?"

"I didn't want her to go, but I couldn't tell her... she wouldn't like me anymore." Urchin whimpered, rubbing one eye with the heel of his hand, "And I couldn't think of a reason for her not to go... and then I tried to make her not leave..."

Eric swallowed, suddenly not hungry, "How'd you do that Urchin?" He asked nervously.

"I tried to steal her keys... I'm good at stealing things... but she caught me!" Urchin whimpered, "And then she wouldn't listen! I tried to tell her but they showed up!"

"Who?" Eric whispered.

"Her friends..."

"Flounder and Gabriella?" Phoebus said.

"They don't like me... think I'm mean..." Urchin muttered before shaking his head, "No, the scary twins... They look like the monsters from a movie Ariel showed me once..."

"Urchin, what happened?" Phoebus sighed, "What aren't you telling us?"

Urchin sniffled harshly, "I... I didn't want to... but they said they'd hurt her and I thought... maybe I could help her if I played along. I even saved her stuff to give back to her."

"Her stuff?" Aladdin questioned.

"Her phone and stuff-I didn't even touch the money this time! I promise!" Urchin cried.

"What did they have you do Urchin?" Phoebus asked.

"I..." Urchin swallowed, "I had to lead her alone to the parking lot... and towards a van."

"Urchin..." Phoebus groaned, shaking his head, "How could you?"

"I tried to stop it!" Urchin cried, breaking into fresh sobs, "I tried! I wanted to steal her keys so she'd make me give them back and she'd drive home! But she caught me before I could get them and ran out of the theater. Then she sent me away and they grabbed her!"

"Who?" Phoebus said, tone coloring with his anger.

"These... these two guys... always hanging around Coachman's place or that one lady's place... The shop for girls..."

"A beauty shop?" Aladdin frowned, "Is it nearby?"

Staring at the table mournfully, Urchin shook his head, sniffling again as silent tears slipped down his face, "It's Ariel's favorite shop... she took me there once... I didn't like it... smelled funny."

Eric got up from the table and started dialing, Urchin watched him go, looking fearful until Phoebus grabbed his wrist.

"Hey, it's fine, just finish talking okay?"

"Am I going to get in trouble?" Urchin whimpered again.

"No."

"But she's gone! I lost her!"

Aladdin sighed, finding it hard to mask his irritation.

Urchin crossed his arms, rocking back and forth again as he muttered, "I wanna go home..."

"And where is that?" Aladdin snapped before Phoebus kicked him underneath the table.

* * *

"Yes!" Ariel grinned as Gabriella's bindings came loose and she stood up, stretching her limbs.

"Great." Flounder said, "Now what?"

"Well..." Ariel and Gabriella looked around, spying the boarded up windows. In quick strides Gabriella crossed the room and began pulling at the wood, eventually resorting to kicking at it and in two well-placed blows the rotting boards came away with a large crash. The three cringed before Gabriella stuck her head out the empty window and looked out to see nothing but road and some trees surrounding them.

Stepping out onto glass that must have been broken from the window long ago, Gabriella carefully looked around for signs of their captors, or any other form of life. Finding none she turned back to her friends and began gesturing.

"Just go on ahead then!" Ariel hissed quietly, "Bring back help."

Nodding, Gabriella turned and began sprinting towards the gate, jumping over it and tearing down the road.

* * *

"It would have been a favorite beauty shop or something of hers," Eric said into the phone as he exited the pizzeria, and on the other side Mr. Angelfish bit his lip in thought as Attina hurried to ask her sisters.

"Mr. Angelfish," Eric said while they waited, "You told me Urchin wasn't there that night."

"Well he wasn't."

"He was."

"Impossible!"

"How do you know sir?"

"Because... because..." Mr. Angelfish seemed to flounder for an answer, "Look, Danny is a good kid in a bad situation. He would never harm my daughter."

"You lied to protect him." Eric stated, "And in doing so nearly impeded our investigation."

"That child would have been terrified, the entire force raining down on him like they do." Mr. Angelfish snarled, "And besides he couldn't have been there. I sent him away for the week to see an old friend of mine. She was supposed to get him clean."

"Clean?"

"From the drugs Detective!" Mr. Angelfish bellowed, "Those infernal drugs! I found them in his jacket last time he came over to shower and I knew, I just knew it was why he wouldn't let us help him. I sent him to stay with a friend of my late wife's, she helped Athena when we just had Attina and I talked to him last night. He said he was still there and he was enjoying himself."

"Then why is he sitting in a pizzeria with two of my colleagues crying and asking if he's being arrested?"

Triton Angelfish was silent, stunned most likely, and when he spoke next his voice was hard, "Tell him I will be down at the station waiting to pick him up."

"I think we should take him to Pan Memorial, he looks pretty beat up."

The sound of the door opening and shutting on Mr. Angelfish's end was followed by a few quick whispers and then Mr. Angelfish said darkly into the phone, "Leviathan Beauty was-_is_ her favorite shop. Alana took her and Urchin there last week. Tell him I'm waiting for him at the hospital then, I'll handle him from there."

Eric scowled at the phone after the line went dead a moment or two before turning and re-entering the restaurant, finding Urchin laying his head on his arms with his eyes closed and Aladdin and Phoebus silently eating pizza.

"So the shop is called Leviathan Beauty, Alana and Ariel took Urchin there last week." Eric reported as he reclaimed his seat, "Did you get anymore out of him?"

"Just that he wants to go home..." Aladdin muttered through a mouthful of cheese, "And that home apparently means every gutter in Downtown Disney. I wonder," He turned and looked at Eric curiously, "If we got anything useful from this guy, we'd still be sitting here waiting for you to tell us about Ariel's favorite hair care products?"

"Okay, okay," Eric rolled his eyes, "Message received, anyway, I say we drop Urchin off at Pan Memorial and head out to Leviathan Beauty."

"Sounds good." Phoebus said as he swallowed what was left of Eric's pizza, "I assume Mr. Angelfish is waiting for him there?"

"Yeah... how'd you know?"

"The family seems like they wanna help him, but he always runs off when they try. I assume it'll happen this time too-or maybe not, considering he'd want to see Ariel when we find her." Phoebus said, "Anyway, enough exposition, let's get to the beauty shop!"

"I know I could use some exfoliates... or whatever they're called..." Aladdin said as he got up, "The crap girls put on their faces to look like green martians."

"I don't know man..." Eric shook his head, clapping Urchin on the shoulder to wake him. The kid jerked awake and nearly fell backwards out of his chair before Phoebus caught him by the other shoulder and steered him to his feet.

"Did you take something today?" Phoebus wondered aloud, leading Urchin to the door and towards the car. Outside, Urchin puked in a nearby trashcan and started shivering, prompting Eric to give up with coat and let the kid rest his feet on his lap while they drove to the hospital. The sun was already beginning to dip towards the horizon and Eric worried that the girl they were supposed to find would freeze considering it was late September. He studied the photo in his hands silently, noticing just how blue her eyes were for the first time. They were pretty, he liked blue eyes he realized...

Urchin gave another moan as they stopped in front of the hospital and Aladdin and Eric had to work together to drag the half-starved twenty four year old out of the car again before he puked in the bushes.

"Mr. Cook, nice to see you again." A large African-American man said as one of the orderlies eased him from Eric and Aladdin and into a wheelchair. Behind him stood Mr. Angelfish and Attina, both looking relieved to see Urchin despite his bruised and pale complexion. With a nod of thank you to the detectives, the doctor walked with Urchin, who was wheeled away down the hall and out of sight.

"Where did you find him?" Attina asked as her father nodded a greeting to the detectives before disappearing after Urchin and the doctor.

"Alleyway of the Devil's Eye apartments." Eric said, "He was there last night with Ariel and her friends."

Attina's eyes grew wide, "That's impossible! I dropped him off at Marina's myself! That's three hours away by car!"

"Well he got back here somehow," Eric said, "And by the sound of it he was forced by the people who kidnapped your sister."

Attina rolled her eyes, "He probably jumped in the car the moment it pulled up, he didn't want to go but Dad said he'd cut Urchin off."

Eric nodded, "Well, call if he manages to tell you anything else useful." He turned and followed Aladdin out the door, leaving Attina to groan as she hurried to find out where her father and their friend had gone.

* * *

Gabriella felt as if she'd been running for an eternity. The road seemed to just stretch on and on, and as the sun fell from the sky, she felt her legs becoming lead and it became harder and harder to take another step. Eventually she had to just drop into the grass beside the road and fight for breath as the darkness consumed her and the temperature began to plummet.

* * *

Eric was staring at the picture again as they drove, night having fallen and making it hard to see but somehow, if he concentrated hard enough, he could make out that glittery smile.

"You better stop staring at that photo man," Phoebus said from the drivers seat, "You can't afford to get attached like that."

"I'm not attached!" Eric argued.

"You've done nothing but stare at that photo the entire drive." Aladdin said.

"Quit watching me through the mirrors, that's creepy."

"Don't give us reason to!"

"Look, Eric, you can't afford to get attached." Phoebus said, "What if things don't go well? Huh? You want that tearing you up? More than it should?"

"There's a limit?"

"Has to be," Phoebus said, "Otherwise no one would last at this job."

Aladdin held out his hand, twisting it to reach behind his seat, "Just give it to me, I'll take good care of it."

Eric looked down at the photograph. It was the one her father had given him to use for identification. It looked like it was a random photo someone had snapped of her. She was sitting there, in her living room, holding a Shepard Dog plushie in her arms, which were encased in a pajama top decorated with small purple sea shells. She was just sitting there, smiling at the camera, no clue it would be used to help find her when someone snatched her off the streets with, apparently, only a half-mad homeless kid to help her.

"No, I'll put it away." Eric said, carefully slipping the photo into his notebook and plunging it into his coat pocket. Phoebus and Aladdin both rolled their eyes and the car was swallowed by an uncomfortable silence.

* * *

Leviathan Beauty could be described as a Hot Topic knockoff. It's main colors were blacks and violent pinks, with loud pop music pulsing through speakers both inside and outside the store.

The shop was obviously just beginning to close down, as fewer and fewer customers entered and double their number left, toting large purple and pink bags of merchandise in their arms.

The shop was pungent with a number of different perfumes and the smell of burning plastic, glittering carpeting the floor as neon lights pulsated with the music. A few stragglers hung around the changing rooms, either trying on outfits or waiting to judge said outfits.

A large obese woman with shock white hair gelled to stand up in the air stood behind the counter reading. A tight black glittery tube top encased her body like a second skin, a seashell necklace resting against her breasts which had been pushed up by her clothes. She smiled with lips caked in violent red lipstick and greeted the detectives with long red nails.

"Why hello gentlemen," She smiled, running a hand through her stiff hair to check it, "_What_ can I do for you?"

"Do you happen to know where the manager is?" Phoebus asked.

The woman chuckled like a school girl, "Why, _I'm _the manager gentlemen." She laughed, standing and doing an odd sort of bow, "Welcome to Leviathan Beauty."

"That's lovely," Phoebus glanced at the glittery silver name tag pinned to the top of the woman's shirt, "Ursula. By any chance, are there any men employed here?"

"Is there some sort of problem officer?" Ursula frowned, sitting back down, "Of course there's men employed here. Stylists, cashiers, stockers! Why wouldn't I have men employed here?"

"You're not in trouble," Phoebus said cordially, "We just wanted to know, are two of them rather close? Shady couple of guys who are friends outside of work."

Ursula frowned, as if thinking hard, "I have a pair of twins employed here."

"Great," Eric stepped in, taking charge, "Can we have their photographs?"

"Whatever for?" Ursula asked, glancing down and seeing their police badges, "Are they in trouble?"

"They are suspects ma'am," Phoebus said, "But we want to have our ducks straight before we go shooting anything you know?"

Seeming unamused, Ursula sighed and turned to the computer beside her. She clicked and clacked at the keyboard for a full three minutes before she turned the monitor around to show the men, Eric quick to snap a photo with his phone before she could turn it back around. He then turned and began texting before dialing as he walked through the glitter covered glass doors.

"Rather goal-oriented, isn't he?" Ursula chuckled darkly to Phoebus and Aladdin.

"It's been a long day." Aladdin muttered as Phoebus craned his neck to see past the dozens of ads glued to the windows to try and see the Detective.

"What did they do?" Ursula asked conversationally.

"Who?"

"Flotsam and Jetsam? The twins?" Ursula asked condescendingly.

"Oh, well," Aladdin swallowed, "We're not even sure _if_ it was them. We just wanted to ask them some questions and-"

"A recent kidnapping of three young adults ma'am." Phoebus interrupted, "Our witness placed two shady individuals he remembered seeing working around here."

"Oh, that's just _terrible_!" Ursula lamented, "You know, those two _look_ dangerous, but they're really not. I've known them for years you know."

"I'm sure ma'am," Phoebus said as Eric entered the store, looking cross.

"You know, I was just congratulating them the other day on all their hard work. They love this job so much, they take it so seriously." Ursula continued, "Maybe it's just because I'm one of the only _few_ who will give them a chance but there you go."

"What's their address?" Eric asked, approaching the counter.

"What?" Ursula frowned.

"What. Is. Their. Address?" Eric repeated much slower, like he was talking to a child.

"Why?" Ursula snarled.

"They've been identified as the attackers. What's their address or I arrest you for obstruction of justi-"

"Okay, time out." Phoebus snapped, dragging Eric by the arm towards the door, "Aladdin, get the address and meet us outside." He dragged a protesting Eric out the door and threw him roughly against the wall outside.

"Hey! What the hell man-"

"You can't just threaten people Eric," Phoebus snapped, "That gets us nowhere!"

"She was standing in the way-"

"You've developed an attachment!" Phoebus shouted, "Do I have to ask Frollo to pull you off this case?"

Eric went silent, glowering at Phoebus as if daring him to do it. Phoebus instead sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose like he had a headache. Aladdin popped out of the store shortly after and together they silently, if awkwardly, climbed into the car and drove off.

* * *

"Uh-huh, got it." Flotsam said into the receiver.

_"Don't let them find her with you!"_ Ursula snarled into the phone, _"The less incriminating you make it for yourselves the easier it'll be to get you off."_

"I understand."

_"Good!"_

With a deep sigh the gray older man hung up the phone and turned to his twin brother, who was drinking greedily from his beer.

"We need to get rid of her and the other two." He said, getting up from his stool in the bar, "And we don't have a lot of time. When they see we're not home they'll be searching the whole city."

Jetsam nodded, hopping up from his seat and throwing a number of bills on the counter before following his brother out into the night.

* * *

If they hadn't been driving so slow they would have missed her, or worse run over her. It was lucky for her they'd been so busy trying to get a proper look at each other as he rattled off some witty one liner he'd heard on the TV last night. She'd laughed, probably more out of pity than anything, but had shouted for him to stop the moment her eyes hit the road.

"Who's that?" She cried, shooting out of the car to get a better look.

"Belle be careful!" Adam

* * *

Eric wondered why he was surprised they'd ended up at the Devil's Eye apartments, Aladdin kicking through the door of a _rotten_ apartment. The smell alone threatened to knock them out but the sights of the thirty different molds growing around the kitchen was enough to make one of the officers loose their lunch. They'd searched the entire apartment and found no one, not even a rat (which surprised everyone).

"Where could they be?" Aladdin groaned, walking around the living room.

Phoebus picked through the pile of mail tossed haphazardly to the side of the door, looking for any sort of clue while Eric stared down at Ariel's picture again, thinking.

"Dude you gotta stop looking at that!" Aladdin snapped, reaching out to snatch it away but Eric was quick to move out of the way.

"I'm thinking, give me a minute." He said.

"Well boys, it looks like we've hit a dead end." Phoebus declared, standing up.

Eric groaned, looking back through his notebook as he tried to think. Aladdin sighed, clapping his shoulder and advising him to get some sleep. Then, like that, Eric was standing alone in a rotten apartment with his phone ringing.

_His phone ringing!_

Eric tore the phone from his pocket and pressed the green button, "Hello?"

"Eric?" The voice on the other end asked, "This is Officer Fa, a call just came in from Pan Memorial."

"Pan Memorial?"

"Yes, one of the kids reported missing was just admitted there. Her parents called us as soon as they found out. She's part of your case isn't she? A Gabriella Damon?"

"Yes! Yes! Tell them I'll be right over there." Eric said, turning and sprinting from the room.

It wasn't hard to convince the other two to drive over there, even if they did have to listen to Phoebus complain about needing his bed. The hospital ushered them into a white room, walls made from curtains, were a coco-skinned girl lay on the bed looking groggy and sick. Surrounding her, a younger boy with a birthmark over his eye and three on the side of his head and their parents who stood behind him looking worried.

"Oh officer!" The mother cried, "Thank you so much for finding my baby!" She wrapped her arms around Aladdin who coughed from the loss of air.

"Actually," The doctor from earlier said as he entered, "She was found by two teenagers on the side of the road."

"That's why we're here." Eric said, as the Doctor looked up, seemingly surprised to see Eric again, "We need to find her friends."

The doctor sighed, glancing at his watch, "My patient needs rest. You have ten minutes."

"Oh Doctor Sweet." Mrs. Damon said, extracting herself from Aladdin, "I was wondering..." And her words were lost as she followed Dr. Sweet behind the curtain, her husband close behind with a look to the boy.

"Hello Gabriella." Eric smiled, sitting in the chair on Gabriella's other side. She smiled politely back at him and the boy squeezed her hand.

"We were wondering if you could help us," Aladdin said, standing at the foot of her bed, "Could you tell us about last night somehow?"

Immediately the girl began waving her hands around, gesturing wildly as the boy seemed to jump to a more concentrating mode.

"She says," He began, "That they'd all gone to the downtown movie theater to see a movie, and that... Ariel and... Urchin-Oh really? _Him?_-got into a fight before he stormed off. She and Flounder went out when Ariel didn't come back and saw these two guys hustling her out of the theater... so they ran after them but got grabbed too." His face melted into a look of sympathy and he squeezed her arm, "Gab I'm so sorry... I should have gone too."

Gabriella shook her head, tears pricking her eyes at the thought before she started speaking in sign language again.

"Oh! Um... She says she woke up in a gross, dusty room with them... and Ariel used a nail to cut her restraints. Then she crawled through a broken window and started running down the road till she passed out."

"Do you know where you were?" Eric asked, "Were there any signs or landmarks?"

It was silent as Gabriella's hands sped up and then the boy looked at them, "She says it looked like an abandoned building surrounded by trees. She didn't really look around to well because they were worried their kidnappers would come back."

"Okay, okay..." Aladdin nodded, thinking, "Well, Miss Damon, are your friends okay? When you left them they were physically alright, right?"

Gabriella motioned to her brother and pointed at her head.

"She says Flounder has a gash on the sight of his head from fighting."

"Right," Eric stood, "Last thing and then we'll leave you alone Gabriella," He held up his cell phone, with a picture splayed across its screen, "Are these your kidnappers?"

Gabriella shook her head roughly yes and Eric patted her shoulder.

"Thank you Miss Damon. We'll bring your friends back, I promise."

Outside Phoebus was walking away from a pair of teens sitting in the waiting room, a boy and a girl holding hands tight.

"Who are they?" Aladdin asked as they met up in the middle of the room.

"The kids who brought Gabriella in," Phoebus said, "They say they were travelling down I-38 when they found her lying in the grass. Now, I say we send a few search parties down there in unmarked cars and plain clothes so as not to spook our two trouble twins. That way we cover most of the road, and time is of the essence now Eric, it's supposed to be cold tonight-really cold."

"I know..." Eric sighed before nodding, "Call the station, tell them to do just that. Oh, and we'll need a few maps."

"Already on it."

* * *

It was dark, nearly pitch black except for the slivers of moonlight coming through the slats of the window in their new room. It was just as dirty, maybe more so, than the last one and worst of all, Ariel was alone. Upon entering and finding one of their captives had escaped, Flotsam and Jetsam separated her and Flounder. She was locked in this new room with the sound of rats and heavy footsteps in the dark as the cold crept in to freeze her.

She was a strong girl, had to be to make it in a house full of girls who all dealt with the loss of their mother separatly. But now, as she shifted to a new sitting position, she felt the beginnings of tears at her eyes as she lay on the rotting dust covered mattress wishing she were anywhere but here right now. Maybe laying at home in bed, warm in her pajamas instead of freezing with only a green miniskirt and a thin green jacket for cover.

There was a lot of noise from somewhere past the door. It sounded like fighting, or maybe brawling. Ariel wasn't sure, but then she heard a gunshot and a scream ripped itself from her throat, thoughts speeding at a million miles an hour. Had they shot Flounder? Had they shot each other? Where was Flounder? The panic began to consume her.

This was all her fault, she reasoned, all of it. She'd forced Flounder to go last night when he hadn't wanted to. All she'd had to do was mention Urchin-poor Urchin-and he was there, ready to pounce the kid if need be. Ariel knew they didn't like each other, she knew alot of people didn't like Urchin, but it wasn't his fault really. At least most of it wasn't his fault... he had tried to mug Flounder when they'd first met but it was all water under the bridge now right?

There were some pounding footsteps and commotion out in the hallway and Ariel found herself clumsily trying to move into a corner where maybe she'd be safer than there in the middle of the floor.

The door burst open and in the hallway stood Jetsam, leering at her as she tried to move away from the light let in by the open door.

"Boss says we have to get rid of you." He said in that high rasping voice that sent shivers down Ariel's spine, "But I don't see why we can't have a little fun first..."

Ariel felt her throat close up just as another scream prepared to leap from her lips.

* * *

"There's nothing out here!" Aladdin groaned as he poured over the map in the passenger's seat. Eric pressed a little harder on the gas, speeding the car up as it lead a line of cop cars.

"She has to have come from somewhere-she said it was a building so we know we'll see something if we just keep driving."

"You sure her memory wasn't altered? We've passed like three turns so far!"

"There's more road, meaning there's a chance Aladdin."

"You sure you're thinking straight?" Aladdin asked for the third time that drive.

"Clear enough to think of a way to throw you out if you ask me again." Eric snapped, "I'm sorry if it seems I _care_ about what happens to this girl and her friend."

Aladdin's face went slack with the brunt of the accusation before his face colored, "I just think Phoebus is right, you can't get attached! It clouds your head Eric!"

"I know, but mine's totally clear."

"You stare at her picture."

"It's a nice picture."

"What are you gonna do if we rescue her huh? You gonna give it back?"

"Of course."

"Keep in touch?"

"No..."

"Eric."

"It's a job Aladdin!" Eric snapped, "I know that, you know that. If she says thank you, good, if that's it, fine. Let it go."

Aladdin rolled his eyes and turned to face the dark road in time to see something appear through the trees, "Stop!"

Eric saw it too and veered off the road, slamming on the brakes and switching the car off as Aladdin shot out his door. Together they raced towards the large abandoned house, one of it's front windows hanging dark, bare, and open. There were shouts coming from inside and Phoebus thought to shout "Police!" before he slammed through the front door.

The place was half-building, half-dust. Everything from furniture to wood looked rotten, the stone staircase crumbling and the second floor burned black. A shout came from down the hall and half the group of assembled cops peeled off down towards the sound.

"Why isn't this place on the map?" Aladdin wondered, glancing at the patch of green where the house should have been marked, "All other homes and businesses are."

"I don't know..." Phoebus frowned, "I didn't even know this place was out here."

"I don't think anyone did-do you hear that?" Eric frowned, jerking around to hear more scuffling coming from the back of the house. Together, the three slunk towards a room that had probably been a storage room, turning left at the kitchen and finding the door shut. From behind the aging wood they heard what sounded like a muffled shout and then a heavy thud. The enraged voice of a man floated forward and Eric kicked the door in.

Standing in the middle of the room stood a gray, stringy haired man in black. He held a knife to the throat of the red head Eric had only ever seen smiling in pictures. Only now she was crying, tears of fright slipping past her cheeks as the blade threatened to cut through her pale skin. A bruise was forming above one eye, marring the image, but those teary blue eyes begged Eric to help.

"Don't be stupid." Eric said slowly, not tearing his gaze from Ariel, who's bound hands clung desperately to her attacker's arm, trying to pull it back from her.

"You don't be stupid."Jetsam snarled, tightening his hold, "Put the gun down or this pretty little green jacket gets painted red!"

"It's three to one man," Aladdin said, his gun level with Jetsam's head, "Even if that happens you'll be dead."

"Where's my brother?"

"In custody." Phoebus stated, taking a step forward. Ariel hissed in fright as Jetsam jerked them backward, the knife slipping against her skin and causing a small cut to appear. Her breathing picked up and Eric could see her begin to tremble.

"Hey, hey, careful." He said, breaking his stance with his gun raised. He made a show of slowly straightening and holstering his gun, taking even steps forward, "No need to do anything _unnecessary_ right? We're just talking right? Nothing's happened yet."

"What are you doing?" Jetsam snapped.

"I just want to talk. Can we do that?" Eric asked, smiling, "Hey, I have an idea, why don't we trade? I'll take her place and we can talk. A cop is a much better tool against a cop you know, my friends here won't shoot me-at least I hope not, right guys?"

Aladdin shot him an incredulous look for trying to crack jokes at a time like this while Phoebus fixed him with a calculating frown, wondering what Eric was up to.

Eric took a hesitant step forward, "Just gonna trade okay? You can even use my gun, I'm sure it's more useful than just a hunting knife."

"Knives have their purpose." Jetsam hissed, running his blade gently across Ariel's skin. She flinched in fear but didn't look away from Eric. The two hadn't broken their stare the entire time.

"Sure, but a gun is easier isn't it?" Eric said, within arm's length of them now, "How about you just drop the knife and-"

"You think I'm stupid?" Jetsam cried, his knife arm flying out to cut at Eric. However, Eric caught him by the elbow before the blade could dig into his flesh. In one fluid motion, he turned the arm towards the ceiling and nearly all the way back. Jetsam cried out in pain and Eric tackled him to ground, bringing Ariel with them. She cried out as they hit the floor and the detectives behind Eric shouted and Eric had the scumbag pinned, one hand on his knife arm the other on his throat.

Phoebus was kicking the knife out of Jetsam's hand and was dragging him out of Eric's grasp as Aladdin pulled Ariel from their tangled bodies and ushered her from the room. Eric breathed, just breathed, the flood of adrenaline still leaving him on edge as Phoebus forced Jetsam to his feet and kicked Eric in the leg to get his attention.

"Come on." He said, voice uncharacteristically soft. Eric smiled and helped escort Jetsam through the door and out of the house, where Phoebus found great pleasure in throwing him into the back of a squad car. His brother beside him snarled as the door was slammed into their faces and Phoebus patted the trunk of the car like a horse before it drove off. Eric walked behind him, watching as an ambulance drove up and a twenty-something kid with blue streaks in his hair was directed towards a waiting gurney. He looked pretty beaten up, one eye swelling shut and the other covered in a curtain of blood from a cut on his forehead.

There was a cry from behind Eric and he turned in time to see a recently freed Ariel dash past him and run to the gurney, where she finally began to let loose tears over the state of her friend. Half conscious, Flounder reached up and patted her cheek, leaving a half-smeared bloodstain but she didn't seem to care. The paramedic looked to Eric as if for help when she refused to leave Flounder and Eric moved out of Phoebus reach when he tried to replace Eric.

He approached the red head carefully, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder and she jumped.

"I'm not leaving him!" She snapped angrily and Eric nodded.

"No, I understand," He said gently, looking up at the medic, "I'm sure there's room for a small young lady isn't there?"

The medic sighed, nodding despite himself and pushing past both of them to help load Flounder into the ambulance. Eric helped Ariel to climb into the vehicle and she turned to smile at him, grabbing his hand before he could pull away and giving it a squeeze.

"Thank you." She said in a grateful, melodious voice that sent a tingle up Eric's spine. He blinked once, twice, then smiled back and squeezed her hand back.

"Have a safe trip to the hospital." He said, slipping from her grasp and turning to go. Phoebus, who'd been watching, sighed and clapped him on the back as they climbed into the car and Aladdin started the ignition. Eric sighed, turning his thoughts to the paperwork he'd be stuck doing till three in the morning when all he wanted was to sleep.

* * *

Ariel held tight to Flounder's hand as they drove, listening as the paramedics worked to patch up what they could. He was pretty beat up, but they assured her it was nothing unfixable.

At some point in the ride Flounder looked up at her, eyes unusually bright for someone under sedation, and grinned haplessly.

"He was pretty cute huh?" He laughed and it took Ariel a moment to figure out what he meant. Then her cheeks colored and Flounder chuckled.

"You know Ariel," He muttered through a beaten throat, "When we get wherever we're going, I'm gonna plant a solid one on Gabby, but who are you gonna kiss?" Ariel rolled her eyes before looking out the back windows of the ambulance where she could see a number of cars driving behind her and she wondered which one that Detective was in...


End file.
